Some aircraft systems currently deploy on-board monitoring and diagnostics capabilities, for example, for monitoring engines and other important aircraft sub-systems. Data captured can be used in real-time. For example, data may be made available to a pilot via an avionics system in the form of cockpit monitoring and warning displays. In addition, or alternatively, data may be downloaded from an avionics system at a later date, for example, after an aircraft has landed and/or is being serviced, and used for analysis, prognostics and fault finding purposes.
Information relating to component usage and/or lifetime may be estimated and/or inferred from aircraft usage patterns. Doing so is not always reliable as different operators and pilots may place varying demands on the operation of an aircraft and environments in which aircraft can operate may vary significantly. It is typical, therefore, to adopt a conservative measure of component usage and/or lifetime to ensure appropriate service or replacement in good time before a component approaches its estimated or inferred service interval or lifetime. The challenge may be even greater if respective components are replaced prematurely, swapped between aircraft and/or are installed as second hand components. In such instances a degree of accuracy regarding component usage and/or lifetime can be assumed if associated usage records for aircraft on which the components have previously been used have been maintained reliably. However, if that is not the case, a component has to be thoroughly inspected and assessed before it can be installed and used.